CITY HUNTS LINKS TO BUILDING OWNER

City officials on Thursday were sifting through records to determine if the owner of a South Side building whose roof collapsed earlier this week owns other property that may be hazardous.

"We will be inspecting each property that comes up," said Kristen Lobbins-Cabanban, a Buildings Department spokeswoman. The records search should be completed by early next week, she said.

The roof of the three-story brick apartment building at 4606-4608 S. Indiana Ave. collapsed through to the basement on Tuesday, killing one worker and seriously injuring two others. Officials said that the property was undergoing extensive renovations despite lacking an appropriate building permit and two stop-work orders.

Lobbins-Cabanban identified the building's owner as Guy Allessia, a principal of GRA Development Corp. of Itasca.

"We are looking for properties owned by GRA and people associated with GRA," Lobbins-Cabanban said. "We are also urging people in communities who know of properties owned by this group to notify us."

Load-bearing walls and structural supports appear to have been removed from the Indiana Avenue building as part of a "gut rehabilitation" project, according to city officials.

The building was demolished Wednesday night under an emergency court order.

Allessia's attorney contends that the men who were injured were not working on the building at the time of the collapse.

Jaroslav Spielfogel, 46, was killed in the accident. His nephew, Jiri Spielfogel, 22, remained in critical but stable condition Thursday in Cook County Hospital. Lodek Heczko, 22, was listed in fair condition in Northwestern Memorial Hospital.